Power Rangers Defenders of Justice:Thunder Squadron
by Super Shadowhenshin
Summary: Tommy Oliver has created a team of Power Rangers from the powers of the formerly destroyed Thunder Zords. The Rangers must use their powers to defend Tommy against old foes and new. Can the Rangers defeat the one enemy that stands parallel to their mentor's past, and can Tommy prepare for the greatest loss of his life?
1. Chapter 1

**_This story coincides with Ninjetti Force, taking place generally around the same time._**

 _Eltarian legend revolves around one basic rule. Great mentors breed great students, who then become even great mentors themselves. This cycle repeats endlessly through time. Each cycle begins and ends with a great struggle. Zordon of Eltar's struggle ended with the war against the United Alliance of Evil. Now his children find themselves in a world void of guidance, they will step up to the plate and become the mentors of a new generation. The real question is, will they be able to stop what threat lurks under the thin veil of darkness?_

Tommy Oliver watched the figures move under the gleaming moonlight. They wore bulking coats, covering their faces up to the floppy fedoras resting on their fat heads. They moved in a pack, appearing human in stature, but their movements were vaguely animalistic somehow.

Seemingly harmless, they didn't appear to be interested in hurting anyone, or causing any sort of mayhem. Tommy knew they weren't human, and that was fine. Many aliens were seeking refuge on Earth, a planet swarming with Rangers to protect them from the countless slew of vile creatures that were causing trouble in the rest of the galaxy. These weren't harmless refugees, though, Tommy knew that much. One of the figures carried a brown suitcase, a cheap piece of leather and chrome with the insignia of the medieval dragon rising from a ruined tower, the symbol of a powerful organization that rooted itself deep into the country.

Tommy jumped down at the figures, his fists swung wildly. The figures threw away their disguises, revealing faceless creatures dressed in black tuxedo suits. One of the creatures armed a bo-staff and swung at Tommy. The hero dodged and knocked it from the monster's grip. Tommy grabbed the bo-staff himself and used it to knock down the rest of the monsters. They fled, leaving the suitcase on the ground.

Tommy lifted the suitcase, it was heavier than he expected it to be. There wasn't a lock or any sort of protection, so he simply opened it up. The contents glimmered at the former Ranger. Five gleaming gems, each colored crystal bare an image of an animal. A dragon, a unicorn, a griffin, a phoenix, and a lion. The gems pulsed with a powerful energy, one that Tommy understood very well. _Morphin Energy_.

A few weeks later Tommy sat in his house, he had gotten in contact with his old friend, but he wasn't sure when he'd show up.

There was a sharp knock at the door, and Tommy let the blond haired Kerovian into his living room. He had met Andros during a short confrontation with the Machine Empire, the Red Space Ranger had asked Tommy to help organize a group of Red Rangers to fight the remnants. The two stayed relatively close.

"So what did you want me to look at?" Andros asked. Following the galactic hero was a familiar face to Tommy Oliver. A small humanoid robot with a dome head. Andros had gotten Alpha 7 shortly after his team defeated Dark Spector.

Tommy revealed the five gems. "I found these a few weeks ago, I can sense the power in them, but I don't know how to use them."

"Ai yi yi yi yi yi!" Alpha exclaimed, "Those are the Thunder Crystals!"

"Thunder Crystals…" Tommy echoed. "What are for?"

Alpha ran his hands across their smooth surface. "They're the power originally used to power the Thunder Zords."

"Why were a bunch of grunts after them, the Thunder Zords were trashed?"

"They still contain a connection to the Morphin Grid." Alpha said, "Who knows what they would do with that."

Suddenly everything clicked for Tommy Oliver, he saw the vast possibilities open up in front of him. "I can use that power to create my own Power Rangers."

"Ai yi yi yi yi yi," Alpha shot up, "yes you can!"

Andros flashed a smile, "I have some spare parts on my ship, we can throw something together."

Alpha nodded, "Zordon would have loved to see this!"

 **A few months later…**

Tommy stood outside his newly constructed command center. Giant archaic towers and an outer structure crafted from the strongest Kerovain metals. His time as a racecar driver had allowed him the funds to support such a project, but most of the magic was thanks to the support of his collection of friends and contacts.

He felt a soft hand nudge his shoulder, he turned to see his wife Kat, staring up at the command center with a sense of awe and terror. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked again, "You don't have to, we have friends that can take over. We can continue our lives, you don't have to keep getting drug back into Ranger duties."

"I'm sure," Tommy said flatly, "I can't turn away from the rest of the galaxy, they need me."

Kat stood silently, she didn't need to say more. She didn't need to give a list of all the risks he was taking. He knew them already.

* * *

Brandon wore his best suit. It had been three months since Tommy Oliver had come into his life, and since that moment, things had become a jumble of strange events. Brandon kept his cool as he stood in front of the bouncers. They were bulking men in trench coats and fedoras.

"What's the password?" One of the guards asked. For a brief moment, Brandon caught a glimpse of the man's glowing red eyes. He shivered, trying to forget what he was wrapped up in.

"Lord Zed was an incompetent loser." Brandon stuttered out. The two guards seemed pleased and allowed Brandon to enter into the building.

The inside was dim, only the vaguest form could be made out, which was already terrifying enough. More were bulking humanoids, spikes, extra appendages and other terrifying things of the sort. Aliens were common on Earth, but most hid among the population, only free to show their true forms in places like this.

Brandon kept to himself, lurking in a corner with a drink in his hand. He couldn't help but overhear a conversation going on next to him.

"Scorpina is really getting pushy." One of the voice said.

"Yeah, it's only a matter of time before someone stops her. I hear that those Ninjetti Rangers have been plowing into Sankari, they could take her down with no problem."

"I heard she's been after the Hilt of Darkness."

 _Hilt of Darkness?_

Brandon had no idea what that meant, but he didn't like the sound of it. He moved in the hear better, but he was met by a large figure in front of him. The being was a machine, crafted from large, round armor. "You smell like a snitch." The machine said, "We aren't fond of snitches around here." The machine swung its bulky fist at Brandon. Wood slippered in a million directions, but Brandon was unharmed.

The human boy pulled up his wrist to reveal a golden device. On his other hand was a similar creation, only slightly smaller. The small piece opened with a key that slid into the larger piece. "Thunder Change!" He yelled and was enveloped in red energy.

"Y-you're a Power Ranger…" The machine mumbled in disbelief.

Brandon's Ranger form was red and sleek, a white karate uniform covered his chest, his helmet's visor was covered in gold at the top and designed to vaguely resemble a dragon. "Thunder Ranger Red!" He exclaimed, drawing his blade.

Most of the aliens coward away. No matter how tough they appeared to be, no one wanted to mess with a Power Ranger. The Red Ranger slashed into the machine, sending a wave of sparks across his thick body.

Brandon knew he wasn't going to get any more information, so he took the chance to dash out of the building. The two guards tried to block the exit, but the Thunder Ranger made quick work of the villains. Thunder Red didn't stop running for the next six blocks.

He demorphed in a back alley and approached Tommy's apartment. When Brandon entered the living room Tommy was playing around with a pile of wires on the floor. He looked up and smiled at Brandon. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty bad." Brandon said, and explained his experience within the club, "I can't keep doing this alone, I need a team."

Tommy nodded, "That's what I've been working on," Brandon then took notice of Tommy's current project, four Thunder Morphers lay next to Tommy's feet.

"If we're going to stop Scorpina we're going to need a good team of Rangers, good thing I've already been talent scouting." Tommy smiled, "The gears are already in motion, we just have to wait for them to show up."


	2. Chapter 2

Philip stood outside of the command center, his messy blond hair was plastered to his forehead. He took a step forward, rubbing his hand gently across the yellowing bruise on his forearm. He shuddered, feeling a brief explosion of memories. He shook himself out of it, he had to focus on putting his past behind him.

"Hey," A voice said from behind Philip, he quickly turned around, feeling electricity in his chest. A girl stood behind him, her hazel eyes gleamed as she gazed past Philip and onto the giant steel castle. "Are you here for the…" She trailed off, unsure how to formulate their situation into words.

"Yeah," Philip said, "He found me too."

"Pshh." A voice said from behind the two, "He _recruited_ you." Brandon caught the gaze of a leather clad teen. The boy peered through his sunglasses, his short brown hair was wet with sweat. "They did the same thing to my brother, they pulled him into the military and died a year later."

The other boy made Philip completely uncomfortable. The way he swaggered around with his skater shoes and tight pants. He reminded Philip of someone who spent more time skipping class and smoking cigarettes than anything of actual substance.

A boy exited the building. He was tall, built, to Philip, he looked like the star quarterback of a local football team. The boy smiled at the trio. "Tommy sent me out, he figured a peer would do better at explaining what needs to be done better than he could."

The leather jacket boy pushed Philip away and approached the other boy, "And just who are you?" He sneered.

"Brandon." The boy said without a moment's hesitation, "I'm your leader here."

The man laughed, "Like I'm going to listen to a jock like you. What did you even do to be the leader here? Daddy pay you in, or did you suck someone off?"

Brandon remained stone-faced, but Philip noticed the flicker of annoyance, followed by a clenched fist. "I'm going to assume you're Caine."

"What about it?" Caine asked he leaned in closer to Brandon, the faint stubble on his face gleamed in the early sunlight.

"Nothing," Brandon said with a shrug, "Just an observation." Brandon took a step back and glanced at Philip and the girl, who seemed to have blended into the background. "Anyway, I'll show you in, I'm sure Tommy's got some kind of lecture to give you."

They were led inside. The place was small, cluttered, things like wires and screws were littered across the floor. Tommy seemed like a good guy, he had a kind looking face, he was dressed in a green sweatshirt, not exactly what he would expect.

Tommy stood up, he smiled at the teens. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, my letter was vague, but I knew that deep down you all had the drive and motivation to do what's right and take my offer."

He took a quick look around the room, his smile flickered. "Well… It seems like _most_ of you had the drive to take my offer." He shook his head, "Anyway, I need you all for an important mission." Tommy loaded a blurry picture of a girl wrapped in golden armor, "This is Scorpina, a former associate of Rita Repulsa. She disappeared off the map years ago, but it appears that she kept herself busy." Tommy displayed pictures of faceless tuxedo men, "She's collected the help of these aliens, and for whatever reason she's been causing trouble."

"Then why do you need all of us?" Caine asked, "We're a bunch of kids."

Tommy looked to Brandon, the boy stood up and spoke, "The Morphin Grid is hard on our bodies, the younger you are the better your body adapts."

"I'm in," Philip said abruptly, everyone darted their eyes towards him, causing the boy to sink his shoulders and blush, "If everyone else is in too."

The girl nodded, "Count me in too, we have to stop Scorpina."

Caine shrugged, "If everyone else is down, I guess I'll help."

Tommy nodded, a faintly stressed expression on his face. "There was someone else, Chelsea, she was also sent my invitation, but I guess she has other things to do…"

* * *

Chelsea sat in the back of a stuffy taxi. The summer heat leaked through her small window, sickening her beyond belief. The air was dry and horrid, she would even go as far to assume whoever the sadist driver has had also turned the heat on.

She held the letter in her sweaty palm, a small piece of paper with her name and address. It was brief and quick to the point, saying the city was in trouble and needed her help. She heeded the call, mostly because there wasn't much else going on in her life. She felt excited, anxious to help people by any means necessary.

She leaned over to her driver, a strange man clad in a bulking coat. "Can you please open a window?"

The man laughed cynically, "I was just trying to heat you up a little," It was that moment she realized he had stopped the vehicle at the end of a dark alley. "Nobody likes a cold meal…"

She panicked, her brain racing through every possible scenario, rape, murder, human trafficking, but none of her assumptions had anything to do with the faceless tuxedo monsters that had appeared behind the car. She tried to open the door, but it was locked, leaving her to bang against the glass and scream.

"That won't help." The driver said happily, "Scorpina always gets her girl."

The creatures were at the door now, she could smell their sulfuric aroma. The laugh of the driver became overwhelming, everything transformed into a symphony that orchestrated her demise.

The cab doors swung open, and the creature's pale hands grabbed her tightly, using unreal strength to drag her around. She screamed and kicked, but the monsters were completely unfazed. She slammed her fist into the nearest monster, but it merely uttered a gravelly laugh.

They dragged her into a nearby factory, broken windows, industrial dust, and the vague sense death. She was thrown to the ground, her body crushed against the cement, causing a sharp pain to spread from her ribs.

She stood up, feeling dazed and horrified. Survival instincts kicked in and she bolted towards the door. One of the tuxedo monsters socked her in the chest, the wind knocked out of her and she collapsed.

The inhuman sense of quietness was halted by a sharp click against the shop floor. Each of the tuxedo creatures bowed in the presence of the new figure, an enchanting girl with long dark hair and almond eyes. She flashed a fierce grimace, standing over Chelsea with her arms crossed.

Chelsea tried to move, tried to show some sort of vain defiance, but she was met with the woman's gold clad foot. "Pathetic… " The woman spat. She grabbed Chelsea by her shirt, lifting her face to face with the villain. "I know who you are," She said in a dark tone, "I know where you were heading, and it wasn't even that hard to intercept you."

Chelsea was brushed by a faint sense of dread, how had she managed to get herself shoved into this situation?

The woman laughed to herself, she drew her long curved blade up to Chelsea's neck. "I'm going to skin you, then I'm going to _mount_ your empty husk from the tallest building in this good for nothing town! I won't stop there, I'll kill _everyone_ that bastard Ranger has met in his entire life. Then he'll know the pain he caused me, then he'll know what it's like to grieve over someone you love…"

Chelsea didn't quite know what this girl was talking about, but the minor details seemed irrelevant compared to the main problem.

A sharp bang echoed from outside. Scorpina darted her head to the direction of the noise, an annoyed expression on her face. The bulky steel doors busted inward, letting a blinding light leak into the dusky warehouse. Dust clouded around the warehouse, creating pillars of light that reflected onto the tuxedo monsters as they armed machine guns.

Steaks of energy shot through the dusty air, piercing into the tuxedo creatures. Their black bodies flew back, sparks flying off their bodies. Men in police style uniforms rushed into the area. They each held tiny pistols that fired the energy attacks.

"Silver Guardians…" Scorpina spat, "A little far from home."

A man stepped in front of the rest, he possessed a hard face with a faint shadow of stubble. "We extended our borders," He said with an amused gleam in his eye.

Scorpina lunged at the Silver Guardian, but he slid away from her advance and fired into her armored side. Scorpina lifted her giant blade to swing again, but the Silver Guardian kicked the blade from her grip.

Twenty armed Silver Guardians aimed their pistols at her. "You're surrounded, I'd suggest you turn yourself in."

"You won't get away with this." She swore and faded into a cloud of dark energy.

"Or that… I guess." He said with a disappointed tone.

The man approached Chelsea, he moved with a wave of confidence, the swagger of a police officer. He smiled as he offered her his hand. "Are you okay?"

She nodded as she lifted her up. "Yeah, I think so."

She gazed at his medal badge, raised letter spoke his name, Eric Myers.

"That's good," He said with a faint grin. He paused for a few moments, his eyes peered into her soul. "Do you need a ride?"

Chelsea froze, she didn't think it would be a good idea to tell the police where Tommy hid his command center.

"Don't worry, I know where your heading. Unless you aren't the newest member of 's Pewee Ranger Ledge."

Amazed, Chelsea nodded.

Eric looked pleased, "Good, I can drive you there. I need to have a talk with him anyway."

* * *

Tommy Oliver watched a black jeep pulled up to his command center. A man stepped out, along with him came a brown haired girl. Tommy froze, recognizing them both.

Eric Myers led his last recruit up to his command center. They both stood patiently, realizing there wasn't something akin to a doorbell. Tommy stepped outside. He had his Zeonizer strapped to his wrist, normally he'd be happy to see Eric, but something about his stance screamed trouble.

"Dr. Oliver ," Eric said, standing perfectly still.

"It's been awhile, how are the Silver Guardians?"

"Busy, like always."

"What about Wes?"

"He's on a road trip, working out the integration with Lightspeed Rescue."

Tommy sighed, "So what do you want?"

"I picked this girl up, she had gotten into a scrap with Scorpina."

Tommy felt his insides turn to ice. Scorpina had disappeared years ago, he had hoped she was destroyed during the war. She was ruthless, a killer, and worse than that was the fact he never learned her true motives.

"Now," Eric began, "We've recently had an SPD Commander murdered by a rough Earth Ranger. If we're going to get the SPD's backing Earth is going to need to be on its best behavior."

"So what?" Tommy asked, "Are you trying to be my babysitter?"

"I'm trying to keep this planet of ours safe, frankly, I don't care if you wanna run around and play Ranger all day with your teenage friends, but I'm not going to let you mess things up for the rest of us."

Eric turned himself around and left.

Tommy approached the girl, she seemed younger than he thought, frailer. "You must be Chelsea," He said with a grin. "We've got a lot to go over, but I'll make it brief, you have a mission after all."


	3. Chapter 3

Night had quickly swallowed Blue Bay Harbor. The Silver Guardian's barack was dark and quiet. The team stationed there were fast asleep. The day had been hard and swallowed their spirits. Their sleep was too heavy to notice the small army marching towards them.

Eric was shaken awake by the sound of blaring sirens. He jumped up, quickly throwing clothes over his boxers and grabbing his small pistol and Morpher. He followed his troops out of the sleeping quarters, trying to figure out where the disturbance was. He froze, catching sight of the faceless figures outside of his window.

The entire building quickly shut into lockdown mode. Giant steel plates covered every single window and door. Shelves fell from hidden compartments, they contained high powered assault rifles Bio-Tech had created with the help of reverse engineered Ranger technology.

The faceless monsters managed to bust into the building, blaring machine guns as they rushed in. The Silver Guardians fired back, creating a firefight of led and plasma. Silver Guardians tore into the for every five tuxedo figure that fell the ground they would get one Silver Guardian, unfortunately, the Silver Guardians were outnumbered one to ten.

One of Eric's officers pulled the Ranger into a corner. "We have direct orders to evacuate you from the area."

"Fuck that." Eric spat, "I need fight with my men."

"We can't lose you, we need as many Rangers as we can get."

"Whatever." Eric said and pushed past the man. Eric rushed back into the firefight, arming his Morpher to his mouth. "Quantum Power!" He screamed and was covered in a red light.

The Quantum Ranger fired into the enemy, sending six tuxedo-clad monsters down before having to reload. He changed his blade to sword mode and charged into the heart of the battle. He cut down monsters left and right, but they wouldn't stop coming. He had flashbacks of the final fight with Ransik, he had almost died at the hands of a hundred Cyclobots. He was in the same situation now, only Wes wasn't there to save him.

Scorpina quickly approached, moving through the countless ranks of monsters zero effort. A grin was plastered on her wicked face, her eyes glaring into Eric.

"Do you like this little party I organized?" She asked, stopping for a moment to cut into one of Eric's officers.

"I saw better at Prep School." The Quantum Ranger said and swung at the villain. Scorpina jumped back, giving the Quantum Ranger the space he needed. "Battle Armor!" He hollered and was covered in his sleek battlizer.

The Quantum Ranger hated the idea of retreating, but everyone was either gone or dead, and he couldn't afford to keep this up. Using the rollerblades on the bottom of his armor, the Quantum Ranger fled.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: As stated before, this story coincides with Ninjetti Force, this will become slightly more relevant to this chapter.**

Philip stood in the wide empty room. This particular part of the command center had been built specifically for training purposes. He held his Morpher out, a determined look on his face. The key on his Morpher popped open, and Phillip tried to imagine himself as a sort of communication tower, a beacon for the Morphin energy to emulate through. He slid the key inside of the other end of the Morpher. A few sparks generated from the device, but little else happened.

"Having trouble?" Brandon asked, stepping into the room. He approached Philip, a genuine smile plastered on his face.

Philip sighed, all five of them had been training for a few months now. Everyone else had managed to Morph into Ranger forms. Caine was the Blue Ranger, Chelsea was Pink, and the other girl, Amy, was the Yellow Ranger. It was depressing, to see everyone else manage to fight evil while he stuck at the Command Center.

"It's alright." Brandon said, "It'll come to you eventually, you can't force the power to come to you."

"Then why has everyone else Morphed by now? What am I doing differently?"

Brandon kept his grin though it seemed slightly more forced now. He put his hand on Philip's shoulder, "Just relax, okay?"

Philip nodded, trying to seem as genuine as he could, "Yeah."

* * *

Scorpina sat in the luxurious hotel room. She was disguised as a human on vacation and had exchanged her golden armor for a pair of jeans and a tank top. It was humiliating, and left her feeling exposed, but it allowed her to roam around the humans with ease.

Her back was pressed against the wall as she read through old books. This one was a memoir written by none other than Zoltar himself. It cataloged the creation of the Sword of Darkness, one of the strongest weapons in the universe. Rita had even used the Sword at one point to control Tommy Oliver.

A smile spread across her face. The sword was destroyed by the Power Rangers ten years ago, but parts of it remained. Most were in the form of the Shards of Darkness, those little Shards alone were powerful enough to turn someone's heart to the darkness.

Then there was the Hilt of Darkness. It was even stronger than the Shards. It carried the ability to channel darkness into it and manipulate it to the user's desire. With power like that, she could achieve her true goal. The one thing she lusted for more than revenge.

There was a loud boom outside of her room. Scorpina frowned, she could already hear the gunfire from her minions, but soon even that was drowned out by another noise, something similar to lightning.

"Get out of my way!" A vile sounding voice yelled from the hallway.

Scorpina summoned her armor and drew her blade, whoever was in the hallway was stronger than she could have imagined.

All the noise stopped, it came without warning, even the gunfire ceased. Then a new noise, a very modest knocking.

Scorpina froze, she didn't know how to react to this development. The knocking continued.

"Are you going to let me in?" The voice from before asked. The voice seemed familiar, in a way she couldn't quite place. It wasn't nostalgic, quite the opposite, the voice gave her the chills.

Scorpina moved towards the door, her long curved blade rested in her hands. She slowly moved her other hand to the doorknob. She took a breath and turned it.

The creature that stood in front of her was something out of a nightmare. He was tall and strong, only his body was red and muscled as if he lacked any skin, dark armor wrapped around his chest, legs, and shoulders. His head was probably the most terrifying, only about a fourth of it was vaguely human., the top left of his face was okay, but the bottom of his left side was exclusively bone. The other side of his face was the same muscle texture, only it contained a chrome grill over his eyes and mouth. To add to his devilish appearance two giant horns extended from his head.

The creature had small bits of her past employers. He had a small bit of Rita in the human part of his face, and a small bit of Reto in his jaw bone and he had a lot of Lord Zedd in him.

"Who are you?" Scorpina asked the monster terrified her on levels she hadn't felt in thousands of years. It was like staring into the eyes of every vile creature in the universe.

"You don't remember me?" The creature asked in a hurt voice, "I've known you for years darling."

"I-I've never seen you in my life." She took a step back, but the creature followed her.

"Remember all those galaxies we've conquered, all those lives we've and I conquered Soren together."

"Soren…" Scorpina mumbled, she remembered the planet well, it had been the first planet she and Rita Repulsa had invaded together. She looked at the strange creature again, "Just what are you?"

"I am Thrax." The creature was in an amused tone, "I am a creature born from the darkness that Zordon had tried to destroy."

Scorpina smiled wickedly, "Does that mean the fools caught in Zordon's energy wave weren't destroyed?"

"That's right," Thrax said, "Their bodies were destroyed, but their darkness remained."

Scorpina tried to conceal her glee, "So what do you want with me?"

"You want what I want," Thrax said, "And I want to pick up the mantle and regain the glory of our empire. First thing's first, though, we need to destroy those pesky Power Rangers."

Scorpina nodded, "That's something I can get behind."

"Good." Thrax said, "Because I have the perfect plan for getting it done." Something glimmered in Thrax's hand, something that caused Scorpina to howl with a primitive laughter. This monster claimed to be born from the darkness of the United Alliance of Evil, and he starting to really prove it. The Power Coin shimmered in the cheap hotel light.

* * *

The alarms in the Command Center started to blare. The monitors displayed Scorpina along with a grasshopper style monster roaming the city. The grasshopper monster attacked civilians left and right while Scorpina laughed wildly.

Brandon collected Caine, Chelsea, and Amy and rushed out, leaving Philip alone with Tommy.

Brandon and the three other Rangers rushed into the city. A group of Scoprina's faceless warrior stood waiting for them, they held their bow staffs out, ready for a brawl.

Brandon drew his Thunder Changer, the others followed suit.

"Thunder Change!" Brandon yelled and slide the key into the other end of the Morpher. Light enveloped the Rangers and they assumed their Morphed forms.

"Power of the Dragon," Brandon yelled, "Thunder Ranger Red!"

"Power of the Unicorn," Caine yelled, "Thunder Ranger Blue!"

"Power of the Griffin!" Amy yelled, "Thunder Ranger Yellow!"

"Power of the Phoenix!" Chelsea yelled, "Thunder Ranger Pink!"

The four stood together as they assumed a fighting stance, "We are the Thunder Squadron!" They yelled in unison.

Thunder Red charged forward, he carried his twin Dragon Blades, which he used to slice into any of Scorpina minions that managed to get within reach. Following behind him was Thunder Blue, who bashed his Nunchucks into one of the oncoming enemies.

"Watch out." Thunder Yellow said, she used her nine-point whip to knock down one of the grunts that attempted to sneak behind Thunder Red.

A group of minions tried to use the confusion to overwhelm Thunder Yellow, but Thunder Pink fought them off with her Spear.

Scorpina appeared with her monster. "Hello Rangers." She said with a grin, it's wonderful to see you here." The grasshopper creature jumped down to attack the Rangers. Thunder Red and Yellow fought the creature, while Thunder Blue and Pink fought Scorpina.

Thunder Red swung his blades into the villain, generating a wave of sparks. While the creature was distracted by Red, Thunder Yellow slashed with her whip.

Scorpina and Thunder Blue danced around each other. "Shouldn't there be five of you?" She asked, dodging one of Thunder Pink's strikes.

"That little punk is still at our base." Thunder Blue replied the Ranger swung down fast, causing his weapon to hit Scorpina and send sparks down her armor.

Despite the gashes in her side, the villainess was smiling.

* * *

Kat sat alone at her and Tommy's dwelling. The place wasn't extremely nice, but the two of them were well off. Kat looked at a framed picture of her and Tommy. It had been during their time as Zeo Rangers. She felt a knot in her stomach, she hoped Tommy was okay.

There was a strange noise, the sound of someone's boots echoing off the porch outside. Kat lifted herself up, she wasn't expecting company. She brushed down her hair with her hand as she rushed to the door.

When she saw the figure in the window her heart stopped. The man was a Power Ranger, but not one of Tommy's new team. This Ranger was older than that. The Ranger drew his blade and sliced into the door, cutting in half before knocking it down.

Kat hadn't seen what Tommy's armor looked like before he was the White Ranger but she had a feeling this was it. The Green Dragon Ranger followed her as she ran back into the home. She ran into her and Tommy's room and slammed the door closed.

The Green Ranger slashed into the door, but his attempts were futile, Tommy had installed a powerful door made of the same alloy as the Command Center. He had meant to do the rest eventually but got held up with his Mentor duties.

Kat grabbed her phone from the nightstand and dialed Tommy's number. The sound of the Dragon Ranger pounding on the door was deafening, and she could feel her heart skipping with every slash.

"Hello?" Tommy said, "What's wrong hun?"

"Tommy, someone's attacking our house," Kat quickly spat out, "They've already broken in," The noise of the door grew louder, "I'm stuck in our room, I don't know what to do."

Tommy swore a few times, then after a few seconds, he spoke. "Listen very closely," He said in a shaking voice, "Your Zeonizer is in a box under the bed, get it right now. I'll be there as fast as I can, but if he gets in you'll have to fight him yourself."

Kat nodded, then realized Tommy couldn't see that "Yeah, I'll do that."

Kat left the phone unhooked as she went under the bed. She found a box and lifted the top off, her Zeonizer sat like a forgotten toy. She strapped it to her wrist and took a deep breath, hoping Tommy would get there soon.

* * *

Tommy had said only a handful of words to Philip before dashing around the Command Center, a few of those were, "Follow me." Tommy rushed into the teleporter and punched a few numbers in. Philip followed and the two of them were transported outside of Tommy's apartment.

The door was already busted down, so they didn't have to worry about that before they entered. Tommy stepped close to his door but was immediately thrown off his feet by a bolt of lighting.

A figure stepped over to the two Rangers. He looked like a strange combination of Rita and Zedd, his smile was wide and filled with poison. "Hello again, White Ranger!"

Tommy took a fighting stance, "I don't know you, but if you get in my way I'm going to kick your ass."

"Come on then." The creature offered, "Show Uncle Thrax what you're made of."

Tommy looked to Philip, "Go inside and help Kat."

Philip froze, he couldn't Morph, how was he going to help anybody. "I…" He stuttered.

"Just go!" Tommy barked, he carried a feral look on his face as he activated his Zeonizer. "Zeo Ranger Red!" Tommy yelled as he rushed at Thrax.

The two of them clashed weapons, Zeo Red used his blade while Thrax used a familiar chrome staff.

"We've done this before," Thrax said smugly, "It didn't work out very well." Thrax slammed his staff into Zeo Red. The Red Ranger buckled down as sparks flew from his body.

Inside the apartment Philip found an alarming sight, another Power Ranger was at the end of a hallway, stabbing his blade through one of Tommy's doors. The Ranger turned to Philip, "I guess I can kill you first." The Ranger said with an amused tone.

Philip didn't know what to do, he froze as the Dragon Ranger approached him. Philip pulled out his Morpher if there was any time to work it would be this one. He slid the key inside and his body flashed with Morphing energy. Unfortunately, all it was, was a flash. It died as quickly as it came, leaving Philip exposed and vulnerable as the Ranger stalked towards him.

Another figure dropped down and attacked the Green Ranger, he turned around and slashed his Dragon Dagger at the figure causing sparks to fly from her armor. Philip gasped in surprise, it was another Power Ranger, a Pink one.

Zeo Pink parried blows with the Dragon Ranger. It was clear that she had some basic fighting skills, but they were rusty, the Dragon Ranger was just too fast. He slashed his blade against her chest, causing an entire barrage of sparks to fly from her body.

Philip was helpless but to watch as this evil Ranger continued to slam into Zeo Pink.

The feeling of uselessness was overwhelming, it swallowed him, eating him up from the inside out.

Zeo Pink was finally hit hard enough to demorph and the Green Ranger slashed his blade across her exposed body. More sparks flew as her skin was torn open, leaving an ugly gash that bled across the carpet.

Outside Zeo Red and Thrax continued their duel. Thrax seemed happy enough to throw Zeo Red around like a rag doll. His power was stronger than anything Zeo Red had ever faced before, it was like fighting all of his old foes at once.

Thrax laughed to himself, "I just wanted to say, Tommy, I'll be here for you."

"What are you talking about?" Zeo Red asked, his answer came in the sound of a shrill shriek coming from his apartment. Zeo Red dashed into his apartment, completely ignoring Thrax.

Once Zeo Red entered his home he was exposed to a sight that must have been graphed straight from his nightmares. The Green Dragon Ranger stood in his living room, he stared at Red, his Dragon Dagger dripping blood.

Everything became clear to Zeo Red. Scorpina had attacked the city to distract the Thunder Ranger while she sent Thrax and this Evil Ranger to attack his house. This was smarter than anything Rita and Zedd would have accomplished. Scorpina was a terrifying enemy.

Zeo Red's heart shattered as he stared down at the ground. Kat laid there, bleeding her life away. Tommy's mind flashed with a million thoughts, Kat and he had been together for so long. He had expected to live the rest of his life with her, to have children of their own and get the chance to watch them grow into individuals. Now here she was, wasting away, and a figure clad in Tommy's own past stood between them.

Zeo Red charged at the Dragon Ranger, the two of them clashed blades. Sparks raced across both of their armor. Zeo Red used his blaster to quickly fire into the Dragon Ranger's armor. The Dragon Ranger was forced to take a few steps back, but he quickly regained his footing and threw his Dagger at Zeo Red. Zeo Red covered his face, and his deflection worked, unfortunately, the blade stabbed right into his Zeonizer, demorphing Tommy on the spot.

Philip could feel something brewing in his chest, a powerful emotion born from the fear that flooded his mind. His Morpher began to glow and Philip knew what to do next.

"Thunder Change!" He yelled as he his armor surrounded him. The armor was green, "Power of the Lion, Thunder Ranger Green!"

The Lion Ranger armed his staff and slashed it against the Dragon Ranger. The Dragon Ranger was knocked back, sparks flew from his armor.

The Dragon Ranger looked around himself, Tommy with his broken Morpher, and Kat as she slipped in and out of reality. The Dragon Ranger left.

Tommy rushed over to Kat, he lifted her head into his arms and press his face into hers. "Kat… I'm so sorry…"

Kat expelled a gurgling cough, blood was starting to pool inside of her mouth, and a tiny, little tendril of it slid down her mouth. Kat looked at her wound, she shuddered and looked back at Tommy. "When we met, I thought you were an angel." She tried to break into a coughing fit, but her body was too weak, too flooded with her own fluids. "I was wrong… you are a Power Ranger."

Philip had called the ambulance, and they were pulling in, but it was too late. Katherine Oliver died in the arms of Tommy Oliver, the original Dragon Ranger. Tommy sat there, expressionless, emotionless, everything swirled around him, but none of it mattered. Not anymore.

* * *

The Thunder Rangers defeated Scorpina's monster and the villainess had fled the scene. They all cheered and returned back to the Command Center. There they found Philip, he sat quietly. He looked up at his fellow Rangers.

"Hey." He said softly.

"Where's Tommy?" Amy asked, "He usually congratulates us on this kind of thing."

"Gone."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked she could tell by the worried look on Philip's face that things were pretty bad. His face reminded her of how her dad used to get when he got one of his late night calls from the police station.

"Another Ranger appeared," Philip explained, "He destroyed Tommy's Morpher, and killed his wife."

The other Rangers stared at Philip in utter disbelief. The information settled in their minds very slowly. None of them spoke for a very long time.


	5. Chapter 5

Nobody took Kat's death lightly. Tommy got about a million calls, most from relatives on both ends. They had been everyone's sweethearts, the relationship everyone else strived to have, it was only natural for them to be so heartbroken. The calls had stayed on the genuine level of generic. They were sad, he was sad, the entire situation was nothing but sad.

Tommy had turned off his phone, he didn't want any distractions while he worked. A single light illuminated the table under him. Resting on that table was Tommy's damaged Zeonizer. The entire device had been damaged beyond repair, but Tommy had a plan to repurpose it.

Tommy wasn't Billy, he didn't have the natural ability to turn a microwave oven into a plasma cannon, but Tommy had some idea what to do next. A white orb gleamed on the table as Tommy removed the damaged Zeo Crystal from the Morpher.

Brandon stepped into Tommy's room, the mentor hadn't bothered to lock his door, he welcomed a stray rober to bust in.

"You missed Kat's funeral," Brandon said. He cast a worried glance at Tommy.

Tommy ignored Brandon, he itched his stubble and continued to work.

"Look," Brandon said, "You can't just stay inside all day, it isn't healthy."

Tommy didn't seem to even notice Brandon, he just continued to fiddle with the mass of wires on his desk.

"Whatever," Brandon said, "I'll check on you later."

* * *

Scorpina sat with her newest friend, Thrax. Thrax seemed pleased with himself , he smiled like a child as a pair of Scorpina's grunts gave the self-proclaimed Emperor of Evil a pedicure.

"We have the Rangers exactly where we want them," Thrax said in an overjoyed tone. "It's only a matter of time before we can crush them and take over the world."

"Yeah," Scorpina replied, she smiled flickered through, she liked the idea of destroying the Rangers but wasn't exactly interested in world domination. She had other things in mind.

Three wolf-like creatures approached Scorpina, their humanoid bodies were covered in rustic armor, and their maws leaked with a venomous foam.

"Master Scorpina," The white colored wolf said with his body positioned into a bow, "What have you summoned us for?"

"Ahh," Thrax said with a smile, "What a pleasant idea Scorpina." The villain turned to the three wolves, "You will find and destroy the Power Rangers before their mentor can recover."

The wolves nodded, they normally would exclusively take orders from Scorpina, but Thrax had enough evil aura to throw around. Before Scorpina could interject the three wolves fled away.

The armored woman gave Thrax a dirty look, "What gives you the authority to control my soldiers?"

" _Our_ soldiers," Thrax corrected, "We're partners now, and what's yours in mine and what's mine is our."

Scorpina glared at the powerful monster, and for the first time, she wondered what she had gotten herself into.

* * *

Brandon walked through the empty park. The night sky gleamed down over the hero. He kicked one of the metal trash cans, sending it rolling around the grassy hill. He was pissed, pissed that Tommy was refusing to pull himself out of the gutter, pissed that it was up to him to hold the team from now until their so-called mentor stopped being such a sob story.

Brandon heard a faint rustling in the foliage. The hero turned in time to see one of the bushes wave slightly in the night air. He heard the sound again, only now it was closer, more immediate.

Brandon armed his Morpher.

A red colored wolf jumped out of the brush, it armed its dagger-like claws as it charged at the Ranger. Brandon rolled away, sliding his key into his Morpher. "Thunder Change!" He yelled as a red light covered him.

The wolf stalked Thunder Red, his humanoid body sulked down his shoulders as he circled the Ranger. Thunder Red drew his Dragon Blades.

"I am Kelzar, of the Wolf Blades." The creature spat in a growley breath.

"Who sent you?" Thunder Red asked. The creature was preparing to pounce, and Thunder Red knew he needed to be ready.

"Scorpina." The creature said.

It pounced before quicker than Thunder Ranger could react. The creature threw the Red Ranger down to the ground. It's foul breath fogged his visor. The creature tore his claws into Thunder Red, sending gushes of sparks from his armor.

Thunder Red tried to pull the monster from him, but the creature was persistent. It quickly dug its sharp teeth into his neck. Pain shot from Thunder Red's body as the creature continued to assault him.

Suddenly the creature was launched away from him. The creature rolled around as blasts of energy and sparks flew from the monster's body.

"Need some help, Little Red?" A voice asked.

Thunder Red turned to see the Blue Ranger, he stood calm and still, arming himself with his blaster.

Thunder Red grabbed his blades and pulled himself up. He regrouped with Thunder Blue and the two prepared for Kelzar's next strike.

The monster pounced again, but Thunder Blue armed his Nunchucks, he swatted at the villain as it flew through the air, knocking it hard to the ground.

The Wolf Blade whimpered to itself for a few before pulling itself back up.

"You dare defy Kelzar?" The creature spat, "I've destroyed countless civilizations, all in the glory of Master Scorpina."

"I get it." Thunder Blue said in an annoyed tone, "Blah blah blah, look at me, I've destroyed an entire ecosystem of single cell organisms. I get it, you've got a small ego." Thunder Blue drew his blaster and fired at the creature. A dozen shots fired into his body, causing sparks and smoke to rise around him. The smell of smoke and burning fur rose to Thunder Red's nose. "Whatever, I don't care, those guys didn't have Power Rangers, and those guys didn't have _me_."

Thunder Blue drew his sword and stood calmly.

The Wolf Blade staggered forward, his body was smoking and smoldering, patches of skin were red and raw, but he seemed eerily unaffected. The Wolf Blade jumped forward, but Thunder Blue was ready, the hero thrust his blade upward, stabbing it right through the creature's gut.

Kelzar staggered around a few moments, he opened his mouth to gasp, but the only noise he uttered was a garbled choking noise. Thunder Red finished the creature off with his Dragon Blades. The creature fell, completely lifeless.

The two demorphed and Brandon stared at Caine with a completely surprised expression. He hadn't seen Caine fight before, he usually remained weirdly reclusive during most monster attacks.

"Since when could you fight like that?" Brandon asked.

Caine shrugged, "I got carried away. I'll try to keep my cool next time." Caine started to walk away, "If one of those things tried to attack you I can only imagine that more of them are going to go after the rest of our little group0."

Brandon noticed something as Caine walked away. The strange boy seemed cool on the outside, but his bottom lip was quivering.

* * *

Philip walked with Amy, the two carried a handful of groceries. Amy had suggested they pick some stuff of for Tommy, and Philip had agreed.

"Do you think this will be enough?" Philip asked he lifted a white bag that contained bread and eggs. He also carried a carton of milk in his other hand.

"Yeah," She said, "Bread, eggs, what does a guy need?"

Philip shrugged, a box of mac and cheese never hurt anyone.

Philip stared at Amy, he felt an emotion stirring inside his chest. A tightness, a twitch. He smiled, and she smiled back.

Philip hadn't had the most glamorous life. He was dragged around by his older brother, the punk had gotten him into a lot of trouble through their lives. During this time, he hadn't really developed a sense how to interact with women. His brother had tried to teach him the "tricks" to win a woman over, but they didn't seem very practical.

" _Come on a fag," His brother teased, "Just grab her ass. What are you afraid of? Mommy finding out you like dick?"_

A sharp noise shook Philip out of his memory, he looked around. The area was a suburban cul de sac, there wasn't a lot of places to find.

Unless…

Philip pulled Amy away from the building they were approaching.

She opened her mouth to object, but before she got the chance a figure jumped from the roof of the single-story building. The monster was canine in origin, but still vaguely humanoid. It reminded Philip of a werewolf, not that he had a lot of time to think about that, the monster was quickly descending on him.

Philip shoved the wolf off before it could manage to do any damage. He grabbed his Morpher as the creature prepared to retaliate.

"Thunder Change!" The both yelled.

The werewolf charged. Thunder Green held out his staff, it held off the wolf, but just barely.

"I'll help you." Thunder Yellow yelled, she snapped her whip against the wolf's back. The tip of the whip dug into the wolf, causing the creature to whimper as blood dripped down its shoulder.

The creature turned around to snap at Thunder Yellow, but the Green Ranger slashed at it with his spear.

The wolf jumped at Thunder Green, the hero swung his spear and knocked the creature away. The wolf picked itself back up, completely unaffected.

Thunder Green took a large gulp. He knew his attacks wouldn't do enough damage to the creature.

"Amy…" He said in a soft voice, "This isn't working."

"I know." She replied, continuing to slash the creature with her whip.

Blood covered the creature's face, dripping from his maw. The crimson pooled on the ground below them.

"What is this thing?" Amy asked in a disgusted tone.

"I am Delzar." The mass of bloody fur hissed, "I am of the Wolf Blade."

Delzar charged again, the two Rangers could manage to hold the beast off, but little else. More and more of his flesh peeled off, revealing horrifying muscle and exposed veins.

The Green Ranger was running out of ways to fight the creature, that was when the idea hit him. He stood patiently, waiting for the beast. The beast snarled, blood shot from his destroyed face as Delzar prepared to charge.

The beast leaped at Thunder Green, and Thunder Green stabbed his staff into the beast's gut. The staff went right through Delzar and into the soft dirt. Delzar tugged around, thrashing violently in an attempt to free himself from the ground. His attempts were unsuccessful, it didn't seem like the Wolf Blade would be going anywhere.

Thunder Green took a deep sigh, he felt fatigue running its course through his body. At least, they got rid of the monster before it became a real problem. The beast was taken care of, for now.

"We need to go to Chelsea," Thunder Yellow said in a panicked voice. "They might have sent a monster after her too, and she's all alone."

Thunder Green nodded, "Yeah, let's go." The two Rangers rushed off, but not before they could collect the grocery bags. They had superpowers, but they didn't have super wallets.

* * *

Chelsea knew she was in trouble. Her feet brushed against the concrete sidewalk. She could sense him long before she heard him. It was a deep feeling in her gut, something comparable to paranoia. By the time the faint rustle became audible she was already Morphing.

"Thunder Change."

The werewolf jumped from the dusk and Thunder Pink stabbed her spear into his gut. The creature fell, shocked by the newly punched hole in his stomach.

The creature recovered and attempted to lunge at Thunder Pink, unfortunately for the creature the rest of the Rangers appeared.

Thunder Blue and Thunder Red were on one side, and Thunder Yellow and Thunder Green were on the other. The creature looked, noticing all five of the Rangers in one place, and he quickly fled.

The Rangers demorphed, unable to hold their armored forms very long.

"Well, that was easy," Caine said with a grin. "I thought I was gonna have to open a new can of whoop-ass."

"You still will," Brandon said, looking into the distance.

"What do you mean?" Philip asked/

"He's still out there. We'll have to fight him eventually." Brandon kept his eyes in the direction the creature fled.

"Ours didn't die either," Amy said.

"Least we creamed ours," Caine said, bumping Brandon on the shoulder.

"I'm not so sure," Brandon said

.

"Why do you say that?" Caine's mouth flickered.

Brandon shrugged, "I might be wrong about this, but most monsters usually explode when they die, Kelzar didn't explode."

"Maybe he was out of dynamite," Caine said. He tried to seem tough, but Brandon could sense his fear.

"We better get Tommy." Amy urged she looked scared too. It was clear that the lack of guidance was upsetting her self-esteem.

The other Rangers seemed contempt with that. Except for Brandon.

"No." The Red Ranger said firmly. "Tommy isn't with us right now, he left the building a few days ago. Well all know it, we've all seen him. He might get a hang on things eventually, but until he does we're on our own."

The Rangers nodded, they clearly didn't like his response, but they all agreed on some level.

"What should we do then, self-elected leader?" Caine asked.

Brandon froze. He hadn't thought of a plan, he'd been too focused on trying to get enough courage to take over the team. "We'll head to the Command Center," Brandon started to say. "If those monsters are still running around then they won't be able to attack us there. After that, we can work on resting and preparing for our next move."

The Rangers nodded and headed towards Tommy's Command Center.

* * *

Kelzar was close to death. He could feel the icy breath of the hooded phantom leaning over his soul. It would only be a matter of time before death claimed his life. The Wolf-Blades were powerful warriors, but they weren't immortal. The Wolf-Blades were born with naturally strong healing powers, but their regenerate skills could only carry them so far.

"Brother." A deep raspy voice said to Kelzar. Kelzar knew the voice very well, it belonged to his fellow Wolf Blade, Selzar.

Selzar was heavily damaged, but he was still able to move around freely. His face was slowly patching itself together, small tendrils of tissue tied together around his fleshy maw.

"You will not die." Selzar said, "You will give your existence to me. Selzar, Kelzar, and Delzar will become one." Kelzar could feel himself slipping away, Selzar was taking him apart cell by cell, molecule by molecule he was being devoured. He allowed it, even welcomed it.

The Wolf Blades would continue. They would never be stopped.

* * *

Tommy continued to fiddle with his old Morpher. He had carefully wielded the cover back onto the main unit, and he would then begin working on the second unit, the smaller attachment to his Zeonizer.

Tommy smiled to himself, he was getting closer to his goal.

The former Ranger noticed something from outside his apartment, it was slight shuffle. Something was trying to sneak up on him. _Not now._ He thought to himself, _Not when I'm so close to getting this done._

Tommy reached under his desk and withdrew a small pistol. Bullets wouldn't be the strongest thing to defend himself, but Tommy knew it would be better than nothing.

Tommy held the pistol on the table. He listened to the noise as it drew closer. Tommy Oliver sat patiently, waiting for his guest to arrive.

A verse started playing in the heroes head, something he'd heard on the radio a bit ago.

 _When they come for me, I'll be sitting at my desk  
With a gun in my hand, wearing a bulletproof vest singing  
"My, my, my, how the time does fly, when you know you're going to die  
By the end of the night. "_

Tommy smiled, was he going to die? Hopefully not yet. The sound grew closer, and whatever was out there slowly entered the house. Tommy sighed, grabbing the pistol in his hand, and whipped around on his wheelie chair.

The bullets hit against Scorpina but quickly bounced off. She smiled at Tommy, her soft lips curled into a horrendous sight. "How have things been going?" She asked in a mocking tone, "Heard you've been pretty bad since your wife got bounced."

Tommy could feel the rage boiling inside of his chest. He leap up and threw his fist into the villain. He wanted to kill her, wanted to rip open her chest and throw her guts all over the ground. She did this to him, she brought back the Green Ranger, she killed Kat.

Scorpina caught the Ranger's fist. She didn't squeeze his hand, didn't try to flip him over. She just let him stand there, completely helpless to save himself.

"You've really let yourself go." She taunted, "You use to be the strongest Ranger in human history, now you can't even fight off an old lackey."

"Where's the Green Ranger?" Tommy demanded. He wanted that bastard dead more than anyone else.

"He's busy right now." She said with a pleased tone, "He had a lot of blood to wipe off his dagger."

Tommy felt more rage pulsing through himself. He threw his fist into Scorpina, but it did nothing to affect her.

"My, my, my, that's quite the temper. I'll keep that in mind."

"What do you want?" He asked the armored girl.

She smiled back at the Ranger, "I just wanted to check on you, see how you were doing. Like a good friend should."

"We aren't friends." Tommy spat.

"No," She agreed, "But we are former partners. We fought with Rita together."

"I was under a spell."

"Yeah," She agreed, "Sure."

"What does that mean?"

Scorpina quickly tossed the former Ranger aside, his body hit against the wall, leaving himself winded and unable to quickly recover. "The Sword of Darkness didn't control you, idiot, it simply brought out your dark side. The Green Ranger never left you, he's still in there."

Tommy had heard enough, he picked himself up and threw his body at Scoprina. Unfortunately, the villain had already vanished

* * *

The five Rangers regrouped in the Command Center. Brandon used his limited knowledge of the technology to scan the city for traces of the monsters. The search would be slow, a full head to toe scan was all that he knew how to program. There wasn't anything yet.

"Maybe we should scout the area," Caine suggested.

"We haven't had time to rest." Philip said, "I'm not ready to face those guys a second time."

"Philip's right." Brandon said, "We're still weak from our last fight. Luckily the Command Center has a small healing generator."

The Rangers relaxed on some new furniture. They could feel the Command Center granted them a strange sense of calmness. It washed over them, relieving their tired muscles and curing their migraines.

There was a monster out there, and eventually, they would be called to destroy it, but, for now, the only thing they could do was relax, and nobody could complain about that.


	6. Chapter 6

A beast rampaged through the city. It was a seven foot, bulking creature covered in thick gray hair. The creature stopped a fleeing civilian, it snapped its wolf-like maw towards the human, all three of its heads glared with hunger.

The creature sprang to attack, but he was quickly stopped by Thunder Blue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." The Rangers said in a mocking voice, "That ladies has way too many calories for you bub." The creature tried to attack but Thunder Blue quickly slashed back with his sword.

Thunder Green and Pink helped get the terrified lady away from the brawl while Thunder Red and Yellow jumped down to assist Thunder Blue.

"Three on one." Thunder Red said, "The odds aren't in your favor."

The creature laughed, "How naive to assume we are one." The creature swatted the three Rangers back with a wave of dark energy, "I am Kelzar, I am Delzar, and I am Delzar. I am Trizar, Master Wolf Blade." Two of the creature's mouths opened and fired a barrage of energy at the Rangers, it knocked them onto their backs, smoke rising from their armor.

Thunder Pink charged at the creature, she slammed her spear into its side, causing the creature to bellow out in pain. Thunder Green stood a few feet behind Thunder Pink and fired his blaster into the villain.

The five Rangers regrouped. Trizar stared them down, "You think you can destroy me?" The creature asked in a growling voice. "I am the Master Wolf Blade, I will continue to fight until there is nothing left of you."

"Will you stop all this shitty banter?" A voice that didn't belong to the Rangers said in an annoyed tone. "You wouldn't stand a chance against all five of them."

The Rangers turned to the north, where a green figure was approaching.

"You have no right to interfere with my battle." Trizar hissed.

"Sorry," The Green Dragon Ranger replied, "I didn't mean to prolong your destruction."

Thunder Green felt his insides turn to mush. The Evil Ranger had returned. It was bound to happen eventually, but he'd hoped it wouldn't be so soon.

"I'm going to destroy the Rangers before you get the chance." The creature hissed.

The Green villain laughed, "No you're not." He held out his gloved hand and Trizar was thrown into the side of a building. "You're going to help me. Unless you want to be added to the casualties."

The Evil Ranger stepped into the light, his armor glimmered like green steel. Thunder Green was pretty sure this was a new addition to his armor. The Evil Ranger jumped down at Thunder Green, but Thunder Red deflected the slash with his Dragon Blades.

Dragon Blades clashed with Dragon Dagger as the two Rangers dueled. "Why don't you get out of my way, I've got a score to settle with the Green Guy." The Evil Ranger said in a bored tone.

Thunder Red noticed something horrifying about the new villain, he actually sounded like Tommy. Albeit a much younger Tommy. "Tell me something." Thunder Red said, "Where did you get Tommy's old powers?"

"I inherited them," The Ranger replied, "From hell…"

Trizar charged at the four other Rangers, his fists flew with an unmatched speed. He tore into their armor, causing sparks to fly in every direction. Thunder Green threw his staff down onto the creature, but Trizar tossed it aside and dug his claws into Thunder Green's armor. Thunder Blue and Thunder Pink tried to use this moment to assault the villain, but he used two of his heads to fire a blast of energy that knocked them away. Trizar threw Thunder Green down with the others and fired another blast into Thunder Yellow. The four Rangers were knocked out of their armor.

The Evil Ranger watched Trizar demorph the Rangers. He then generated an orb of dark energy and blasted it into Thunder Red. The hero flew back, dark sparks poured from his armor.

"Trizar." The Dark Ranger said, "Leave the Rangers to me."

"Are you kidding?" Trizar replied, "How many people can say they've destroyed the Power Rangers?"

The Evil Ranger moved faster than Trizar could react. The Green Ranger quickly stabbed his blade into Trizar's neck and tore it from his shoulders. With the middle head gone the two remaining heads glared at the villain.

The Green Ranger lifted Trizar's head and displayed it to the rest of him. "You want it?" He teased in a baby voice. He then tossed the head deep into the woods, "Go get it!" Trizar ran after his severed head, leaving the Evil Ranger alone with the Thunder Rangers.

"Now that our little doggy is out of the way, we can have some real fun." The Evil Ranger moved toward the four Rangers. They were too injured to continue fighting, it seemed like their destruction was emanate.

Thunder Red charged at the villain. The two Dragon Rangers continued their duel

"You're more persistent than I thought." The Green Ranger said.

"Stronger too." Thunder Red added.

The Green Ranger laughed, "I wouldn't go that far." The villain slashed his Dragon Dagger against Thunder Red, sending sparks across his armor.

Thunder Red rushed his twin blades down, they ran across the villain's armor and sent him back a few steps.

"You Rangers are just buying time." The Evil Ranger said, "Thrax will rule this planet, then he will begin his reign over the entire galaxy."

The Green Ranger charged his Dragon Dagger with a dark energy and slashed it against Thunder Red, sparks flew from the Ranger as he was thrown out of his armor.

The Green Ranger stared down at Brandon. He threw his boot into Brandon's side. The hero felt the pain jab through his body. Every part of his body screamed as the Green Ranger beat him without mercy.

Brandon tried to lift himself up, but instead, he vomited and fell back into the pile of his bile.

The Dragon Ranger turned away from the heroes. "This is the fate of those that side with the light." The Evil Ranger disappeared in a bright flash.

* * *

Scorpina smiled to herself, she was dressed up in her standard human disguise with a yellow colored map rolled out in front of her. She traced the lines with her long slender finger, it wasn't that far from here. Angel Grove was only thirty miles away.

"What might have peaked your interest?" The gravely, dark, voice of Thrax asked from behind Scorpina.

The villainess felt her insides churn, the sound of Thrax, the look of his muscled body, the rancid smell he carried around him. Everything about the monstrosity was horrible to her. She forced a thin smile as she rolled up the map. "Nothing, just scouting the area."

Thrax laughed, the sound of his joy hit Scoprina's ears like nails on a chalkboard. "You shouldn't be playing around with small little maps like that." Thrax reached atop the filing cabinet next to Scorpina's desk and set a globe down over her scattered papers. "This is the only thing you should trouble yourself with because pretty soon we're going to run the whole thing."

Scorpina stood up and flashed a smile at the powerful monster she had come to form a pact with, "How silly of me." She said and walked to the door, "I'm going on a trip. You can handle my army for me while I'm away, can't you?"

Thrax smiled back, "Of course darling, it would be my pleasure."


	7. Chapter 7

A figure stood in the shadows of Angel Grove's center park. He kept his head low, watching as the faceless monsters carried shovels and axes over their shoulders. The figure wore a hooded cloak and dark garb under to conceal everything but his glowing green eyes.

The faceless figures began to dig deep into the freshly imported grass. They tore up the park, leaving nothing but mounds of ugly dirt. A female wrapped in gold armor commanded the army.

"Come you good for nothings! Work harder! Keep on digging! The Hilt isn't going to find itself."

"The Hilt…" The boy echoed. This wasn't good, he frowned underneath his cloth armor, he'd have to figure out what that was.

The female must have heard his soft murmurs because she quickly darted her head in his direction. The boy felt a pang in his chest. "Oh well," He said to himself, "Time to move on."

The boy dashed through the villains, moving quicker than they could catch. Two of the grunts lifted machine guns in the air, the dust around them was ignited with a bright orange light as they opened fire.

Two spinning objects flew from the hooded figure and impacted the villains. They fell back, a pair of silver shuriken were stabbed into their chests.

* * *

Brandon and Caine sat at the Command Center. Tommy was still playing hooky, as he had for the last few weeks, so Brandon took it upon himself to understand more of the Command Center's complex computers.

"I'm not gonna lie," Brandon said, gazing into the square monitor above his head. "I thought this stuff ran on DOS or something, I mean it looks ancient. But this kind of operating system would give Bill Gates a run for his money."

"Let me see," Caine said and took over the keyboard. The heavy sound of clicking filled the room as Brandon watched the leather-clad bad boy tear into a the digital barriers. A new window shot up, revealing the blueprints of the Morphers along with a CGI replica of each suit, "I'll admit," Caine said in a slightly embarrassed voice, "I can't run more than just the surface level information files, the rest in encrypted in code I'm not familiar with."

"I'm surprised you know any code." Brandon said with wide eyes, "I mean, no offense or anything, I just mean this stuff is complicated."

Caine shrugged, "I spent a lot of time in the library. My dad owed a heavy fine under my name, so it was either sit in there and rot or find something else to play with."

Brandon didn't quite know how to reply, the life of Caine seemed to be a strange mystery.

Suddenly all of the open windows shut closed and a new window popped up. In the bright red text, it displayed INCOMING CALL… A man that neither of the Rangers recognized appeared on the screen.

"Tommy! Tommy!" He urged, "Billy told me you had your own team of-." The man stopped and gave the Rangers a quick look over. His eyes narrowed, "Where's Tommy?"

"Gone," Caine replied, "Now who are you?"

The man didn't seem to trust the two Rangers. He stared at them silently for awhile, as if contemplating what to do next. Brandon sighed and revealed his Morpher, "We work for Tommy, he's away right now. I don't know when he'll be back, so it'll be best if you leave your message with us."

The man didn't seem pleased, but at least he complied, "Alright," He said, "My name is Rocky DeSantos, your mentor and I used to be on the same team." Rocky clicked on his own keyboard and displayed an image of a map that floated over Tommy's monitor. "We've detected activity in Angel Grove. I sent one of my Rangers out there and he reported the villains were after something known as the Hilt of Darkness."

Brandon gained a very serious expression as his mind flashed back to the alien bar. "Scorpina…"

"Good, you're already aware of the situation." Rocky gaze the two Rangers a strange expression. It wasn't exactly embarrassment, but it seemed to leak with some sense of regret. "Normally I wouldn't try to interfere with another team's agenda, but due to a situation that arose about a month ago, I'm current down a team member. I was wondering if you could send some of your team down to give us a hand."

Brandon felt his head spinning. He tried to think like a mentor instead of a Ranger. He wanted to rush right into battle and help these other Rangers. Unfortunately a nagging voice in the back of his objected. The rest of his team needed him to stay here, he was the only one who could hold things together while everyone else had fun.

Who would he send, though…

"Earth to Little Red." Caine said, "You've been sitting there for like seven minutes, our caller is still on line 1."

Brandon was snapped back to reality, "Yeah, I'll send you a few of our Rangers."

"Good." Rocky replied, "I'll have one of my Rangers from Stone Canyon pick them up." Rocky did a salute, "My the Power protect you." He said before the screen went blank.

"So who are you gonna send on that little field trip?" Caine asked.

Back to that question… Brandon briefly overviewed everyone on his team. Suddenly it hit him like a bullet.

"You and Chelsea," Brandon replied.

The corner of Caine's mouth twitched, "You're sending me? I figured you wanted the glory with this one."

"I do," Brandon said he grinned a bit. "But I've gotta hold down the fort over here."

Caine nodded, "Send Chelsea over, Stone Canyon isn't that far from here."

* * *

Chelsea stood in the Command Center, she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Brandon explained her mission, that a different team of Rangers were dealing with Scorpina and needed her and Caine to go give them a hand.

Caine set his hand on her shoulder, "You ready?"

Chelsea took a deep breath, "Yeah."

A figure stepped into the Command Center. He looked fairly young, probably a few years younger than the Thunder Rangers. He was dressed in flannel with a yellow shirt underneath. He smiled at the five Rangers.

"Nice to meet you all," He said with a grin, "I'm Luke, Ninjetti Yellow. I'm here to pick up the recruits."

Caine and Chelsea stepped over to the Ranger. "That's us," Caine said.

Luke brought them out and showed the Rangers his vehicle, a rustic pickup truck with a few dents in the side. He opened up the passenger door and ushered them in.

"This is your ride?" Caine asked, "I was expecting something a little more Star Wars and a little less Huckleberry Finn."

"Did you get super trucks?" Luke replied.

"No."

"Exactly."

"So…" Chelsea began, trying to relieve some of the tension that had filled the truck, "What is the rest of your team like?"

"We're good," Luke said he carried a nostalgic smile on his stubbled face. "We're a bit scattered right now."

Chelsea nodded, there was some vague sense of wisdom about him. It seemed like he'd been a Ranger longer than she had. She couldn't help but wonder what he'd seen.

They approached Angel Grove, the skyline glimmered with the brilliant light of skyscrapers. Chelsea was amazed, she'd never been to Angel Grove before. The news had always made the city seemed completely demolished, she had figured the entire city looked like a giant junkyard. Of course, that was years ago, and she supposed it only made sense that they would recover.

Luke suddenly threw his foot onto the brake, throwing the Rangers forward. Chelsea's seatbelt saved her, but Caine knocked his head against the seat in front of him.

A dozen of Scorpina's faceless soldiers blocked their path. Most of them held their bow staffs firmly in their hand, but a two of them aimed machine guns at the truck.

"Friends of yours?" Luke asked.

"Unfortunately," Caine said under his breath.

The three Rangers rushed out of the truck. Caine and Chelsea stood together, they armed their Morphers as rushed at the grunts,

"Thunder Change!" The yelled as they morphed into their armor.

Luke pulled up his sleeve to reveal his own morpher, it appeared similar in basic design. He spun the yellow metal attached to his morpher and was enveloped in a bright light. "Ninjetti Power!" His armor seemed very ninja-inspired, with a lion themed visor.

Ninjetti Yellow armed his katana and rushed into the army of grunts. One of the grunts swung his bow staff down on the Ranger, but Ninjetti Yellow sliced through the grunt before his blade could make contact.

"Glad he's on our team." Thunder Blue said as he fired into a group of grunts.

"No kidding," Thunder Pink replied, "He's a tank!"

The grunts were destroyed with little problem. Luke demorphed and went back to his truck, "We better get to my team, I don't like how much influence Scorpina has right now."

The two Rangers agreed and demorphed, they entered Luke's truck and headed deeper into the city.

* * *

Scorpina's trip to Angel Grove didn't stop Thrax from having some fun at Blue Bay Harbor. He sent Trizar and the Green Ranger to play around while he awaited his partner's return.

Trizar slammed his furry fists into an oncoming car. The civilian inside, a businesswoman in her late forties quickly rushed out. The Green Ranger laughed as he approached the man.

The man smiled at the Green Ranger, "Oh thank god…" The man stuttered, "A Power Ranger." The Green Ranger watched as the man's eyes grew very wide. His Dragon Dagger was stabbed into his chest and he fell the ground.

The Evil Ranger watched as sparks flew across Trizar's body. Three Rangers rushed to the scene, Thunder Red, Thunder Yellow, and Thunder Green.

Thunder Red slashed his Dragon Blades across Trizar's chest, sparks flew as he cut into the creature's flesh.

Thunder Green and Thunder Yellow circled the Evil Ranger. Thunder Green took another evaluation on his armor. The villain's suit seemed more sturdy, more closely resembling metal, he even thought he could make out a texture that closely resembled scales along the armor.

"I don't know how you expect to beat us." The Evil Ranger mocked, "You couldn't do it with five Rangers, you can't do it with three."

"Three?" The Rangers turned to see a surprising sight, Tommy Oliver, with a serious expression on his face.

"Tommy?" Thunder Red asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd check up on you guys, see what's going on." He looked over the team and turned back to Thunder Red, "Where are the others?"

Thunder Red blushed under his helmet a tiny bit, "Well… they sorta went on to Angel Grove to help the Ninjetti Rangers."

Tommy seemed annoyed, but little else. "Let's just get this over with."

Thunder Red felt relieved, the sense of leadership was lifted from his shoulders. His mentor was back, and everything could go back to normal again.

"Wait…" Thunder Yellow said, "Shouldn't you keep your distance, it's dangerous here."

"Yeah." The Evil Green Ranger agreed, "You aren't as big and bad without your powers."

Tommy's lips twisted into a very sinister smile, "Don't count me out of the game too early." He lifted up his sleeve to reveal his patched up Zeonizer.

The Evil Ranger rushed at Tommy, but the former Ranger dodged the swing. He jumped back and slide his Morpher together. "Thunder Change!" He proclaimed. He was suddenly enveloped in a bright light.

The Evil Green Ranger swung his blade down at Tommy, but a gloved hand caught the blade. A White Ranger stood in Tommy's place.

Thunder Red knew this White Ranger very well. He was an artifact of the original Power Rangers, none other than The White Ranger in the flesh.

"Power of the Tiger." Tommy screamed, "Thunder Ranger White!"

White Tiger Ranger armed his old weapon, the famous Saba. White Tiger Ranger swung Saba into the Evil Ranger, sending sparks flying from the villain.

The Evil Green Ranger took a few steps back, "You might have gotten your Powers back, but I'm still stronger than you."

The White Ranger threw his blade into the villain repeatedly, the Evil Ranger was completely helpless to his assaults, The White Ranger moved with a ferocity, unlike anything the Rangers had seen before.

Trizar attempted to intervene, he jumped at White Tiger Ranger, fangs ready.

The White Ranger watched the villain approach, "Glimmering Strike." White Tiger Ranger said. His blade moved faster than the eye could track, he tore into Trizar, leaving him nothing but a pile of bloody meat and fur.

"Cold blooded killer." The Evil Ranger said, "I'm digging what you've become."

"Shut up." The White Ranger replied in a dark voice.

The two continued to duel. White Tiger Ranger would have appeared to have the advantage, considering he continued to make contact with the Evil Ranger, yet the Evil Ranger continued to fight, seemingly unaffected by each of White Tiger Ranger's blows.

The Evil Dragon Ranger uttered a laugh, and his armor shimmered for a brief moment. It was through the split second shine that Thunder Green finally noticed what he had been expecting the whole time.

The top of the Evil Ranger's helmet shifted, it gained a silver stripe along the top.

The Evil Ranger sliced into White Tiger Ranger, sending a stream of sparks to fly from his chest.

The Evil Ranger jumped back, "Well that was fun Tommy, but it's time for me to leave." The Evil Ranger disappeared in a bright green flash. The White Ranger watched the spot where the Evil Ranger formerly stood. Saba shook in his grip.

The White Ranger ran off, he seemed to have some sense of direction, but Thunder Red couldn't guess how the Ranger knew where he was going.

The Rangers demorphed and Brandon sighed, maybe things weren't getting any better…

* * *

A giant mass of Scorpina's grunts all stood in a giant mod. They cheered and waved their staffs in the air as Scorpina stood like a goddess among her people. Scorpina beamed with amusement, she carried a golden object wrapped in dirty cloth.

"My most loyal soldiers!" Scorpina addressed her army. "Our search is finally over, the Hilt of Darkness is finally in our grasp." Scorpina slowly began to peel the wrap to reveal a pearl colored handle.

A figure appeared from the shadows, he unsheathed his blade and swung it at Scorpina. The villain dodged the attack and slashed at the cloaked figure. "Who dares stand in my way?" She asked with a sneer.

The figure withdrew his cloak to reveal a pale Asian boy. "Cameron Watanabe." The boy drew a green orb that glowed with Morphin energy. His Green Ranger armor surrounded him. "Ninjetti Green!"

Ninjetti Green clashed blades with Scorpina, sparks flew from their weapons as they continued their duel.

"You Power Rangers are basically the same." Scorpina spat, "You spew about goodness and protecting the Earth, then you beat up whoever disagrees with your goodie-goodie attitude." Scorpina slammed her fist into Ninjetti Green's chest, the Ranger buckled over, gasping for breath.

"I don't care about this planet, I never really did." Scorpina kicked Ninjetti Green directly in his helmet. "I only came here with Rita because of him."

Ninjetti Green shook as he held himself up, "Who?"

She kicked him again, he fell flat on his stomach and was completely out of breath. "Goldar."

There was a commotion among the grunts, they waved their staffs at a force that neither Scorpina nor Ninjetti Green could identify. Although Ninjetti Green had some sense of an idea about what the force might be.

Scorpina scowled as the commotion drew closer to the stage. She armed her blade as three figures jumped atop the stage. One Green recognized as Ninjetti Yellow, but the other two appeared to Rangers he didn't recognize. One was Blue and the other was Pink. The three Rangers crowded around Scorpina

Thunder Blue charged at Scorpina, he held his Nunchucks firmly in his hands.

"Nunchucks?" Ninjetti Green asked, "A Ranger with Nunchucks?"

Thunder Blue swung his weapons at Scorpina, she deflected with her enormous blade and swung back in retaliation. "Not all of us have fancy katana's." Thunder Blue replied.

Ninjetti Green wasn't exactly warming up to this new Ranger, he reminded Cameron of Jonathan.

Ninjetti Green pulled himself and joined the battle, the Pink Ranger and him stood at the edge of the stage and cut down the grunts that tried to flood the stage.

"Pink huh?" Ninjetti Green asked. "Our female Ranger is blue."

"I didn't think color and gender were related." Thunder Pink replied, "This isn't elementary school."

Ninjetti Green blushed under his helmet, "Y-yeah, I mean it's just weird to see a Pink Ranger."

Ninjetti Yellow swung his blade at Scorpina, she blocked the blow, but Thunder Blue got her from the side, swinging his blade into while she was distracted.

"I'm tired of this," Scorpina said with an annoyed tone. She slashed her blade forward, sending a wave of energy that launched the two Rangers off their feet.

Ninjetti Green and Thunder Pink jumped at the villain, but she quickly swatted them away. She drew the Hilt of Darkness before they could recover.

"It's time." Scorpina white hilt began to pulse with dark energy. It swirled like a tornado, becoming a swirling vortex of negative energy. The darkness was so strong that it demorphed the four Rangers.

"I've waited years for this moment." The Villain bragged. Dark orbs formed inside of the vortex. The number of orbs slowly increased until they began to mold together into an even larger orb. A hand reached from within the vortex, the hand was clad in gold armor.

Caine rushed at the villainess. He knew he needed to stop her somehow, powers or no powers. Scorpina slashed her blade into him, blood and sparks flew from his body as he knocked back. He slid across the ground, leaving an ugly smear of red.

"Caine!" Chelsea yelled. She rushed to help him. Scorpina watched this interaction but didn't interfere.

"Child," Scorpina said to. "I remember you… I wasn't aware you were apart Phoenix Clan..." She trailed off, putting her attention towards the giant orb that floated next to her. The orb struck the ground and solidified.

"It's time." Scorpina sang. The orb began to chip away, falling like the pieces of an egg. A creature exited from the egg. The being was humanoid, clad in golden armor. His armor was elaborate and spiked, covering everything but his beast face.

"Goldar!" Scorpina said and wrapped her arms around her husband, "You have been reborn."

Goldar stared down at Scorpina, his eyes appeared cold and dead. "Yes, dear… it appears I have."

Goldar stared down at the Rangers. Caine was still hurt, but he was breathing.

"We must leave," Goldar said giant wings spread from his back.

The two fled, and the grunts left as well. Leaving the four Rangers completely and terribly alone.

* * *

Caine was brought to a hospital in Blue Bay Harbor. He wasn't in the best shape, but he'd live. The rest of Rangers, along with Luke and Cameron were brought to the Command Center. Brandon and the rest of the Thunder Rangers were filled in on what happened.

"Well on our end Tommy got his White Ranger Powers back."

"Yeah?" Chelsea asked. What Scorpina said still echoed in her head. She had no idea what the Phoenix Clan was, but the idea left her feeling uneasy.

Brandon sighed, "Then he ran off again."

There was an overwhelming silence, which was only broken by Amy's soft voice. "That means we're fighting blind. I don't like that."

Cameron sighed, "There's just too much going on, I hate separating us like this, but keeping our team segregated to our own cities is the only way we can keep the fight going,"

"You're right." Amy said, "Things just keep getting harder. I hope we can manage to get things together."

"We don't have a choice." Brandon said, "We're the Power Rangers, this is our planet. We have to protect it at all costs."

The Ninjetti Rangers nodded. Cameron stepped forward."Good luck, we'll try to keep in touch, but who knows what the future holds."

The Ninjetti Rangers quickly left, leaving the four Thunder Rangers alone in their Command Center. Brandon felt the weight on his shoulders, he was the leader. He was going to be the one that had to save the world.

* * *

Scorpina stood with Thrax and Goldar. She looked at the two villains next to her, they gave a strange sense of nostalgia. They were both familiar and not. They were friends of the past, simply shaped into new forms.

She looked at Goldar, he was still the beast she'd come to love, but did he love her back? She wasn't quite sure yet.

Goldar held the Hilt of Darkness, the artifact glowed with tainted energy. Dark orbs flew from the Hilt and fell to the ground, they then solidified and formed a mass of Putties. They were Rita's choice minion and the sight disturbed Scorpina.

"I have my own grunts." Scorpina said, "We don't need these."

"You're right dear." Goldar replied, "But they won't hurt to have."

The Green Ranger appeared suddenly, he bowed to Scorpina. "It's only a matter of time before Tommy Oliver discovers our location."

"Good." Scorpina said with a grin, "Let the wannabe hero come find us. The more anger that brews in his heart the stronger you become."

 **A/N: This chapter served as a prototype for a later project. What did you think of the Ninjetti Cameo? Do you think the two teams could work well together? Anyway, if you aren't familiar with the strange Ninja Rangers you learn more about them in Ninjetti Force, another fanfiction I'm currently working on.**


	8. Chapter 8

Scorpina watched the destruction all around her. The Putties and faceless minions tore into fleeing civilians, blood-soaked the streets and the building burned. Goldar put his arms around her, a smile was plastered on his face. He watched with glee as everyone died. This was everything Scorpina ever wanted. Her wildest fantasy was spread in front of her with every gory detail. She didn't feel good, though.

It was the quite opposite actually. She felt _wrong_. This wasn't what she expected it would be. It was supposed to feel triumphant, it was supposed to feel like lightning in her gut. Instead, she felt dull.

Golar seemed cold, relentless, a pillar of evil and destruction. He wasn't the same as he was when they met. He wasn't the Simion warrior with a prideful heart. He simply a poorly constructed copy.

Scorpina watched as a mass of Putties broke into a car and pulled a man from the steering wheel. He screamed and kicked, but the Puttie merely knocked him aside the head. Blood poured from his nose as he begged them to stop. A golden wedding ring glimmered on his hand, that was the one thing Scorpina noticed about him.

The Putties began to beat him again, his legs crumpled under him as his body plummeted to the earth. The Putties completely surrounded him and continued to assault him. Scorpina felt a knot in her stomach as she listened to the man's dying pleas. She didn't know why it bothered her so much, she'd seen countless creatures die. Yet this seemed bigger somehow, more personal.

Scorpina turned to Goldar, her husband who had been revived as a monster. "I'm going to go take care of some assets." She said and transformed into her civilian guise.

"Alright dear," Goldar said in a flat voice. "Do not fret, I will continue the death and destruction in your absence."

Scorpina tried to force a smile, that was a very un-Goldar thing to say. She quickly fled from sight.

* * *

Brandon watched the carnage from inside the Command Center. His hands were white balls as he tried to keep his calm. He watched as the man was pulled away by the Putties. Finally, he snapped. He slammed his hand into the control console, hollering out in pain.

"Hey, Red," Caine said as limped through the door. The Blue Ranger had healed pretty well, the cut hadn't been too deep apparently. It helped that the boy was as tough as a pile of bricks. "That isn't a good way to handle your negative emotions."

Brandon was furious, "How am I supposed to handle this?" He bellowed out.

"Go and kick their asses." Caine replied simplistically, "It's the only rational thing to do here. You want to punch stuff and stuff needs punching."

"It's not that simple," Brandon said in a quiet voice. "It's a whole army out there, I can't handle them alone."

"You won't be alone," Caine said with a smirk. "I'll be there too."

"You won't do me very much good," Brandon admitted.

Caine looked like he'd been punched in the gut. "Well you have more than me, there's a whole team of us."

Brandon knew this was true, but every time he tried to imagine the potential outcome all he could see the five of them winding up dead. Sure they hand the Thunder Armor, but would that be able to dismantle an entire army? Brandon didn't think so.

"You're the leader now." Caine said, "Tommy's gone and nobody else has the skills."

"What about you?" Brandon asked defensively.

"Me?" Caine asked with a sarcastic tone. "I've got too much guts. I'd probably get us all killed. You have guts, but you've also got brains. We need both if we're gonna do this."

* * *

So that's how it happened. All five Rangers stood together, Brandon displayed all the available information on the Command Center's monitor. The Putties and faceless minions were completely overtaking the city. All attempts by the Silver Guardians were completely fruitless. Blue Bay Harbor had no choice but to evacuate as the government tried to find a solution.

"I'm going to warn you," Brandon admitted. "This might be our last battle."

"Damn straight!" Caine said, "We're gonna beat their asses so hard they won't ever fight again." The four other Rangers laughed, but it didn't change the true meaning of Brandon's words.

"I have a hunch," Phillip said suddenly. Everyone turned to him, baffled by the way he managed to speak up. He blushed for a few moments as everyone glued their eyes to his figure, but he recollected himself and continued. "The Hilt of Darkness was what allowed Scoprina to summon all these monsters, so maybe if we can destroy the Hilt it will reverse the damage." The other Rangers nodded, it was the best plan they had.

"So how are we going to do it, though?" Amy asked. "The monster with the Hilt is right at the core of the mob."

"I have something that might help," Brandon said. He led the Rangers to another room in the Command Center. The place was tall and wide, with a glossy floor and pale walls. Five motorcycles were stored inside, each bike had a colored that corresponded with one of Ranger's color.

"Tommy had these built a few months ago," Brandon explained. "We can use them to charge into the mob."

"I like that idea," Caine said. "Which might mean it's a bad idea."

"It sounds like our best bet," Philip admitted.

"Its set then," Brandon said. "Let's head out."

* * *

Eric Myers knew something was seriously fishy. He sat in one of those uncomfortable business suits while the mayor of Blue Bay Harbor whipped sweat from his brow. He was a strange man, not entirely plump but not in the best of health. He was balding as well, which admittedly didn't do much good for his appearance.

"Let's get one thing out of the way." Eric said, "You guys only call me when you need something shot down or blown up, so which is it?"

The man grew very red. He whipped his head again and stuttered out a response. "The United States military has decided to step in and correct the problem. They will begin to drop bombs in less than an hour, I need you to get all of your troops to fall back immediately."

Eric nodded, his brain shifted into its highest gear. He didn't have time to freak out. "Thank you," He said numbly and picked himself up, "I'll get on that."

"Thank you." The mayor said with his head down. "I'm sorry things have escalated this much."

"You can't help it." Eric said, "I'll just have to bust my ass to make things right."

* * *

Scorpina could see the army convoys. They moved around the outside of Blue Bay Harbor, helping remove civilians while erecting temporary barriers. They would need more than barbed wire if they hoped to keep the evil contained.

Scorpina could hear something roaring in the background. It was a very subtle noise, but it was growing louder. The Silver Guardians took notice, they quickly whipped around as the five motorcycles sped forward.

"Freeze!" The Silver Guardian screamed, but they continued to charge. Scorpina noticed the color on of the motorcyclists and her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Red, blue, yellow, green, and pink. The Power Rangers charged right through the wire fence, knocking it down and allowing them to pass right through.

Scorpina didn't know what she was doing at this point. Her feet began to drag herself forward into the direction of the Rangers. She didn't know why she was following them, but she moved anyway.

* * *

The roar of Red Dragon's engine was all he could hear. It filled his eyes like fluff and seemed to synchronize with his beating heart. The five of them sped through the empty streets. Nothing but fire and destruction surrounded them.

The entire scene was beyond eerie. It seemed like something copied directly from a horror movie. The ground was littered with various trash, stray papers, styrofoam cups, and bloodied rags of clothing.

Red Dragon Ranger tried to avoid the delipidated corpse. They were beaten and torn, some missing limbs,but all of them were riddled with black and blue bruises. The sight was horrible, he couldn't imagine what it would have felt like.

The wall of monsters littered the city ground like a greasy disease. Most were strange gray creatures while Scorpina's grunts were randomly speckled around. The five Rangers tore right through them. Most of the monsters didn't have time to react to the Rangers, by the time they could coordinate a response the five warriors were already a block down. Some grunts were smarter, they'd grip hold of a Ranger's leg and attempt to dismount them.

The Red Ranger fought off grunts and zoomed around. That was the only thing he found he could do. He was admittedly lost. Every street was composed of the same structures, broken buildings, towering flames, and constant destruction.

The Green Ranger suddenly took the lead, his voice echoed through the other Ranger's helmets as his bike gained some feet ahead. "I have the map pulled up and I've crossed it with the Command Center footage. Let's go get Scorpina and any other stupid grunts she has with her."

* * *

Scorpina was hidden behind one of the nearby building, the Rangers were rushing toward the heart of the storm, it was clear they were ready to take Thrax down for good. She took a step forward, meaning to continue her path in the shadows, but she abruptly stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Hello dear." The cold voice of Goldar said. Scorpina felt panic well up inside her, his breath was warm against her neck, and it carried some distant sense of want. "What are you doing here?"

"I was spying on the Rangers." She blurted out, "I was hoping to find some kind of weakness." She pulled against the golden monster, but he kept his grip firm.

"Why are you trying to run away?" Goldar asked.

"I have to keep following them." Scorpina rationalized.

"Just relax." Goldar said, his clawed fingers ran across the back of her thigh, "Thrax can crush those pesky Rangers. They aren't like the brats we fought back in the day, these insects don't have Zordon's guidance.

Scorpina felt like puking as Goldar grabbed her backside firmly. She wanted to scream, but all she could do was stand silently as the monster continued with his advances.

 **A/N: Sorry for the long delay, I've been working on other stories (mostly Ninjetti Force) but I do have some more material for this story so expect another update soon.**


	9. Chapter 9

Thrax was waiting for the Rangers. He welcomed them in fact. He even commanded his army to become still so that the Rangers could have a few words with him. He spotted the Green Ranger in the lead, he took this as a good sign, the Green Ranger was a wimp.

"Ah Rangers." Thrax said with a grin, "It's good to see you here."

The Ranger dismounted from their motorcycles and the Red Ranger stepped forward. He carried himself in a very dignified way, his shoulders were nice and sharp, and his twin blades were already in his grip.

"Where's Scorpina and Goldar?" The Red Ranger asked.

"Good question Ranger." Thrax said, "But I wouldn't worry about them if you haven't noticed already you're surrounded!"

"Let's just get this over with." The Blue Ranger said, his nunchucks were out and ready.

Thrax grinned a viscously, "You're right."

The five Rangers were quickly overrun by grunts.

* * *

Tommy felt himself surging with anger, it covered his skin like slime and ignited his entire existence. It continued to burn as he tread through the empty field in search of his wife's murder. He could feel the monster, his energy radiated around like mist, it hit the Ranger's nose and made it burn.

Kat's face still lingered in his mind's eye, the shock on her face as her final moments came crashing around her. Somebody who's felt their loved one die in their arms couldn't ever help to completely recover.

The sun was setting, and a fiery light was spread all around the young man. He felt like screaming, like yelling until his throat ceased to work. It was all very overwhelming for Tommy he felt like he was about to explode.

"Looking for someone?" A voice asked.

Tommy knew that voice well, it paralleled his almost perfectly. He turned around to face the green warrior. The Dark Ranger of his past. The Green Ranger stood still with his arms crossed. His armor was metallic and scaley, Tommy didn't think it was like that before.

"You are a broken man, Tommy Oliver." The Green Ranger said.

"The games end here." Tommy yelled, "It's time for you to go back to the past where you belong."

"How pathetic…" The Dragon Ranger said in soft voice. "You don't even understand."

"Oh, I understand." Tommy said as he drew his Morpher, "I understand that it's my job to put you down!"

His white armor wrapped around him as he charged with Saba drawn. The two Rangers clashed their blades together. Saba crashed against the Dragon Dagger, generating a wave of sparks. The Tiger Ranger shoved his boot into the Dragon Ranger, knocking him back and allowing the White Ranger to slash into the Green Ranger.

The Green Ranger grabbed hold of his smoldering side. "This isn't going to bring Kat back to life." The evil Ranger spat.

"I don't care!" The White Ranger screeched and slammed Saba down again this time, the Green Ranger caught the swing. The Green Ranger swung his dagger, slicing into the White Ranger while also producing a green energy wave that knocked the Tiger Ranger off his feet.

The evil Ranger stood over the fallen White Ranger, he pressed his green boot onto of the other Ranger's chest and began to steadily apply pressure. "Why do you feed your demons?" The Green Ranger pondered.

The White Ranger tried to struggle, but the Green Ranger was simply too powerful. It was unbelievable, Zordon had once said that the White Ranger powers were more than superior to his former abilities, but this new Green Ranger was easily overpowering him.

"You can't fight your own darkness with anger." The Green Ranger said simply, "You need to calm yourself before you can stand a chance against me." The Green Ranger removed his foot from the White Ranger before kicking him hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

The White Ranger gasped for air, "Why should I trust you? You're the enemy!"

"Do you think I want to exist after everything I've done?" The Ranger said in a strained voice. "I'm tapped into your darkest emotions, I _feel_ your guilt, I'm practically made of it. I'd rather just melt away, but you refuse to let that happen." The Green Ranger dropped his blade and took a few steps away. He stood calmly with his arms out, just inviting the White Ranger to attack.

Attack is just what the White Ranger did. Saba ran across the Green Ranger's body, the Green Ranger didn't budge as the sparks rained down. He took every hit with a statue like calmness.

The White Ranger began to scream as he continued his assault against his doppelganger. Despite using every single ounce of his own energy the Green Ranger remained standing. "I _am_ your anger, as I am every other dark emotion that dwells in your heart. The more anger you possess the stronger I become. It's impossible to beat me like this."

The White Ranger was huffing, and struggling for air. He was wavering in and out of reality, fatigue was very real and was quickly consuming every bit of the White Ranger's existence. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, every strategy against the Ranger was proving completely pointless.

The Green Ranger swung into the White Ranger, slamming his fist into the White Ranger's faceplate. The White Ranger staggered backward, his head was spinning. "I can only hold off for so long, I am a minion of Thrax, and I must follow his word."

The White Ranger took a deep breath. He tried to let everything the Green Ranger said sink into his head. He needed to fight without relying on the fire in his chest. That sounded hard, nearly impossible, he'd relied on his own emotions during every other fight in life.

 _You are a Power Ranger…_

Kat's words echoed in his head. He had to find a way to win the battle, he owed Kat that much. He tried to focus on something other than his anger, he instead focused on his breathing. In and out.

The Green Ranger swung with his newly retrieved dagger, but the White Ranger ducked. The White Ranger redirected his thoughts, he thought back to the smile on Kat's face, how it seemed to light up his entire world. At first, he was filled with grief and the realization she was gone, then anger towards the being that ended her life, but then he realized that the thought of her brought more relief than pain.

The White Ranger slashed into the Green Ranger, he then noticed the metallic color and drained from his green armor.

Kat's laugh, she had the best laugh.

More sparks flew from the Green Ranger's armor.

Her cute accent, it always filled Tommy's heart with a homey emotion. It sounded angelic to his ears. The White Ranger was a few steps from the enemy. His armor had shifted, appearing more similar to what he'd seen in '93.

"I love you, Kat…" The White Ranger said and stabbed his blade into the Green Ranger's chest.

Sparks flew all around the Green Ranger, following behind it was a black mist that leaked from the growing holes in his green armor. Despite the pain, he must have been feeling the Green Ranger simply laughed. It was a very hearty laugh, like a prisoner's last day of incarnation.

The Green Ranger was fading out of existence, the smoky wisps that remained of his body were resting with their phantasmic knees against the dirt. "Live long, Thomas Oliver." The Ranger spat before completely dissolving.

Tommy demorphed and approached what remained of the Green Ranger. Only one glimmering memento sat in the grass. Tommy lifted it up to his head and examined it nostalgically.

Tommy barely had enough time to pocket the Dragon Coin before noticing the mass of aircraft swarming towards Blue Bay Harbor

* * *

The Red Ranger swung at Thrax, but the villain simply jumped away from the swing, despite his hulking stature he was surprisingly agile. Thrax laughed as he fired a blast from his staff, it hit the Blue Ranger square in the chest and sent him flying back towards the mob of grunts that the Yellow and Green Rangers were trying their hardest to fight off.

Thunder Green waved his staff around, sending Putties and faceless soldiers flying backward. The Yellow Ranger offered support, using her blaster to fire into any of the grunts that tried to flood the makeshift perminitor.

Thunder Red swung his blade at Thrax, but the monster reflected his blades with his chrome staff, this distraction allowed Thunder Pink to get a good swing in with her spear. Sparks flew from Thrax as he hollered in pain.

The Rangers were giving everything they had, all of their energy and resources were being poured into defeating Thrax.

The Master of Evil laughed to himself. "You Rangers are useless." He said in a satisfied voice. He charged his staff and fired into the Rangers, sending all five of them to the ground. "I will rule this world, and nothing can stop me!"

It suddenly seemed hopeless. Thrax could knock them down a million times before getting tired, he was a powerful creature of pure evil. Thunder Red picked himself up, he'd fight to the end. Tommy was gone, and he needed to be the true leader.

"Guys…" Thunder Blue muttered, "Maybe you should look at this." He said and pointed towards the seven aircraft flying in V formation. "Those look like a bomb squad," Blue said truthfully.

Thrax reacted fast, he fired a beam from his staff and knocked the Rangers off their feet and sent his minions to create a barrier between the Rangers and their cycles. "Don't think you can leave me so soon." He said in a mocking voice.

Suddenly a giant mass of grunts simply dissolved. It was a very perplexing event, the only clues lie within the strange zipping noise that had come moments before. Thrax was steaming with anger, which remained largely misdirected until he became aware of the source, which happened to be several Silver Guardians with advanced looking rifles.

Eric Myers stepped up from behind the Guardians. "Do I always have to save your asses?" He asked with a grin.

"Excuse me." Thrax said to the Guardian, "This is supposed to be the big climatic battle, and there isn't room for any side characters."

"Sorry," Eric said, "I didn't realize I was interrupting something." Eric held his Morpher up to his mouth, "Quantum Power!"

The Quantum Ranger sliced into a group of grunts, creating a small amount of space for the Rangers to get to their cycles. "We have twenty minutes to get out of here before everything gets blown sky high, so you better hurry."

Thrax tried to intercept the Rangers, but Thunder Blue jumped in front of him. The Blue Ranger blocked Thrax's staff with his nunchucks. "Get out of here," Thunder Blue spat, "I'll give you some time."

"That's suicide!" Thunder Red said, "How do you want me to be okay with that?"

Thunder Blue dodged a blast from Thrax, which instead hit a stone building and turned it to dust and plaster. "Get the Silver Guardians out of here too." Thunder Blue swung into Thrax, fluently sending multiple waves of sparks from his body, "I'll catch up," His said in a strained voice, "I promise."

The other Rangers wanted to protest, but they understood the importance of protecting non-Ranger lives. So the four drove off with Eric and the other Guardians, leaving Green to face Thrax alone.

"What an honorable way to die." Thrax said, "Letting yourself be killed first in a vain attempt to gain more time for your teammates, I'd almost call it heroic."

"I think you misunderstood me." The Blue Ranger said, "I'm just here to kick your ass."

Thunder Blue drew his blade and charged at Thrax, the words of his fallen brother echoed in his head. _You need to fight for your teammates, they're the only people left in the wasteland that actually care about you._

Thunder Blue dodged an attack from Thrax when he started as a Ranger Caine didn't want anything to do with the Rangers. The whole thing was far too similar to his brother's situation, and Caine didn't want to end up dead. Yet something had changed inside of him, and his reality shifted gradually over time. Slowly he had discovered the truth in his brother's wisdom, he had begun to realize the love he had for his team. He knew he'd been an ass this whole time, but now he was willing to die for them, that had to count for something.

"I hope you're watching me bro." Thunder Blue said as he charged at Thrax.

"Why don't you give up and die?" Thrax asked, "You already know it's impossible to beat me."

"Quit the generic banter." Thunder Blue said grimly, "I hate banter."

Thunder Blue could feel his arms ache with every swing, and his body screamed for him to stop, yet he kept fighting. He fought for Chelsea, Amy, Phillip, and even for Brandon. They were his teammates and he'd fight till the end for them.


End file.
